SummaryThe short story of where we are at the end of 2010 in the smartphone world is this: Apple offered the not-yet-launched iPhone exclusively to Verizon, who turned it down, and so Apple gave the iPhone exclusively to AT&T. Verizon’s Android-based phone, dubbed the Droid, sold well to those Verizon users who had wanted the iPhone but couldn’t get one through their carrier. In the case of Verizon-using geeks, that’ll be the Droid. In the case of mainstream Verizon users, it’ll be the iPhone. Mainstream Verizon customers who’ve spent 2010 debating whether to buy a Droid or wait for a possible Verizon iPhone will now opt for the Verizon iPhone. If Apple had waited another year or two, and a Verizon iPhone might have had a significantly harder time gaining traction. As it stands, the Verizon iPhone won’t claim all Verizon customers when it launches in early 2011, but it’ll claim most of the ones who ever had an interest in the iPhone in the first place. Here’s more on the Verizon iPhone. Details http://www.beatweek.com/news/7180-verizonatt-iphone-4-will-put-the-droid-platform-to-bed-in-2011/